Runaway
by KaioM
Summary: Damon has a secret; nearly every week, he's, for lack of better word, sent to a different alternate universe. It's pretty sudden, and disorienting, too, but something Damon has to deal with. Damon has no idea how to stop it from happening, but when other people start going to the new realities with him, is the curse coming to an end? Pairings and plot unknown, updates once a month.


**THE VAMPIRE DIARIES**

**.:Runaway:.**

**By: KaioM**

_**Chapter One**_

'_private'_

* * *

The second Damon opened his eyes, he knew that something had changed.

To the outward observer, Damon showed no signs of distress, or the slightest difference in behavior. He seemed like same old Damon to anyone that wasn't either Damon himself or a mind reader. And, yes, they exist. Damon has been on the opposite side of mind readers multiple times in his first years as a vampire; they weren't at all as fun as they claimed to be. The alcohol they'd shared with him had been mediocre at best.

For a couple minutes, Damon just stared at the strange ringing alarm clock that had taken residence on a nightstand that most definitely did not belong to Damon. Unsurprisingly, the weird flowery nightstand was right beside his strangely lumped bed, and said alarm clock seemed to be taking great pleasure in continuing with the job of making loud noise near a still sleepy Damon Salvatore. Really, it was a bad decision on the alarm clock's part, considering how irritated Damon could get when awoken. The sunlight streaming in from seemingly everywhere only added to his annoyance. The chirping birds didn't help.

Without a second thought, Damon brought his fists down onto the alarm, smashing both it and the nightstand beneath it in one single motion. He promptly rolled over at closed his eyes, preparing to go back to sleep. The strange nightstand and clock could be overlooked until morning, and no matter how scratchy the sheets were or how much the bed creaked, Damon had already decided that this type of creepy weird bullshit required him to be well rested.

"Honey?" A muffled female voice asked softly, as though just barely awake. "You okay? What was that…" Here, the strange female voice stopped to yawn loudly. "That noise?"

Okay, Damon thought to himself, maybe this was important enough for him to wake up just a little bit early.

His eyes shot open, and he sat straight up in bed, banging his forehead onto a metal bar in the process. Damon recoiled instinctively, holding a hand to his face.

"Damon? What just happened?" The female voice mumbled lazily, and Damon's eyes locked on a bundle of blankets that were slowly turning to face him. He tensed, preparing to run or fight or whatever, and the bundle of blankets finished it's ridiculously slow twist, revealing…

Rebekah. Like, the Original. Yeah, that Rebekah.

"Did you bang your head on the pipe again?" She asked him, her smile portraying fond amusement. "You never learn, do you, Damon?"

Yeah, Damon could comfortably say that it made him very uncomfortable to see Rebekah looking at him like she knew all of his dirty little secrets.

Then Rebekah sat up, the blanket fell off her shoulders, and she was naked.

It suddenly occurred to Damon that he was naked, too.

Okay, Damon, what the hell is going on?

Rebekah's eyes lingered on Damon for much longer than necessary, making him feel, of all things, almost _embarrassed_. Damon's eye twitched ever so slightly.

"Where's the alarm clock?"

"I think the better question to ask would be where we are, or what we're doing naked in this bed together, but sure, let's go with that."

Rebekah sighed, getting up from the bed. "If you destroyed it again, you can tell me. I won't be mad." She started picking up various articles of woman's clothing from the floor, pulling them onto her body dreadfully slow.

Damon's hand twitched.

Yeah, he wanted a drink.

Rebekah looked over at him slyly, then said, with all the finesse of a person who'd been dealing with Damon so long that he didn't bother them, "I can see the signs, Damon. I know that our poor little alarm clock has been destroyed. And that innocent nightstand, too!" She shook her head, feigning sadness. "You are so cruel, husband."

Damon's eyes unconsciously looked down to Rebekah's left hand, where a perfect little platinum ring adorned her finger. It looked expensive, with a silver strand coiling delicately around the base of the ring, and a small diamond sitting in the center of a circle of tiny emeralds.

Holy fucking hell.

That was when everything clicked.

"_Shit_." Damon hissed out, collapsing back down into the lumpy mattress. "Not _again_, no…"

Rebekah made a clicking noise with her tongue, following it up with a tut sound. "You have to get up soon, Damon. I'll be back in ten minutes."

Damon did not respond, his face buried underneath a pillow. Rebekah apparently took that as a yes, and left the room.

"Oh, fuck. Dammit, fuck, damn. This is just fucking fantastic. Just great." Damon lifted the pillow just a little, surveying the room. It appeared to be a little rundown, and judging by the pipes that were everywhere, it was also in the basement.

What the fucking hell was Damon Salvatore doing in a slightly run down room that was likely located in a basement with Rebekah damn Mikaelson claiming to be his wife?

Damon already knew.

"Why? Why? The last one was okay! Really!" Damon shouted to the empty room. "Why did you shoot me into another fucking alternate universe?"

Of course, there was no answer, but Damon felt a bit better after he was done.

Sighing, Damon sat up in the bed. It was obvious that he was just going to have to wait for the next switch.

As of now, he'd been to exactly 587 different alternate realities. Sure, some were similar, but Damon had never been to one that was exactly the same as another. Sometimes, Stefan didn't exist. Sometimes Elena was an evil scheming witch who wanted to send him to hell. Sometimes he and Elena switched roles. Some of them seemed to take place in the past, with Katherine.

In a particularly disturbing one, Klaus had been gay for him. That was a bad, bad, bad week for one Damon Salvatore.

Horrifying.

To be honest, being married to Rebekah was definitely not the worst thing that could've happened. It's just that, in the dimension he'd been in just before this, Damon had been an original vampire. It'd been pretty great, running around killing people. Much better than the dimensions that made Damon human. And even though it may not seem like much to you, it was kinda a big deal to get used to getting stabbed with stakes on a daily basis without it meaning anything to stubbing your toe every five seconds.

Judging by the demolished alarm clock, at least Damon was a vampire. There's one upside to a likely horrible reality.

Damon sighed again.

Man, he just had all the luck, didn't he?

"Damon!" A voice called from above him. "Please, stop shouting nonsense and come up here!"

There was clearly no room for argument in her tone, leaving Damon with two options. He could listen to Rebekah, go upstairs and eat what he was sure would be a wonderful breakfast. That in and of itself was amazing, because he didn't need to eat human food. It must be a very good breakfast, then.

Or, Damon could launch himself out the window that was sitting slightly open above him.

I'm sure you already know what he decided on.

-_Private_-

New rule, Damon declared inside his own mind. No going out into a new alternate reality without any foreknowledge. Being blind was not fun.

Well, metaphorically blind. Although Damon was quite sure that being literally blind would also be relatively unpleasant.

Damon had absolutely no idea what his alternate dimensional self had done to Caroline's cat, but evidently, Caroline was not a vampire in this reality; if she had been, Damon never would've gotten away, judging by how angry the blonde had been.

Sitting at table near the back of the Mystic Bar, Damon silently surveyed his situation. Matt and Alaric, the only people he recognized in the bar, seemed to have no clue who he was. Good; it'd be weird if they did.

Just as Damon was starting to think that this wouldn't be so bad, Klaus walked into the bar and everything went to hell.

Yeah, maybe he should've seen it coming.

I mean, there's never anything that can work out for Damon, is there?

So, in one quick move, Klaus had staked him and Damon had moved on to alternate universe 588.

The weirdest thing was that Klaus was shouting something about Damon stealing Rebekah from him the day before their wedding… But Klaus and Rebekah were siblings, right?

Whatever, Damon thought to himself, severely out of it from due to the fact that he'd just been killed. This alternate universe shit can go anywhere. Who knows what alternate universe Damon had been doing to the poor squirrels of New Jersey? Yes, Damon had seen petitions.

Blankly, Damon decided that he really didn't want to find out, and then he woke up with a stake against his chest. The vervain ropes were a nice touch, though.

Whatever alternate universe Damon had been doing, it looked like he'd been pissing on a lot of people's dreams.

"Where is she? Tell me, now!" Someone growled, the stake digging into Damon's chest a little. "Now, you, now…

Damon blinked.

"What the hell?" There was a stiff moment of silence that was thick with confusion. "Who are you looking for, again?"

The stake was in his stomach within a second. "Katherine! Who else, you idiot? Katherine! Where did you put her?" The stake wiggled a little. "Where is she?"

Damon blinked.

His eye twitched ever so slightly.

Fingers started to shake.

Damon snapped.

In less than a blink of the eye, their positions were switched and mystery freaky guy was the one with the stake against his chest. "What the actual hell?" Damon practically roared, his eye twitching horribly. "What am I doing in a fucking cave with you? And why is there a stake at my chest? Could I get some backstory, please?"

"Wha-how… How are you so strong?"

Damon twitched. "What is _that_ supposed to mean?"

The stranger, whose face was still hidden by the darkness in the cave, choked. "You're… Everyone knows that you're a bunny eater. How… How are you stronger than me?"

Damon's eye twitched violently. "This is bullshit."

"Please, don't-what?"

"Come on, buddy, we're going out into the light." Damon muttered, voice dry, as he pulled the stranger out of the cave.

"W-wait! Let me go! I-I'm sorry! Please, no-"

Damon pulled the stranger out of the cave.

And.

Who.

Was.

It?

Damon gaped at the no longer unknown stranger, who was none the less strange. "Oh-oh my god-how?"

Damon pulled the stranger out and.

It.

Was.

Elena.

Fucking Elena.

What the hell?

Damon stared at her, his facial expression the definition of shocked. He made a weird gasping sound, then reached out and poked Elena's face experimentally.

When he was able to touch her, and she was real, he recoiled, shivering backwards in slightly disgusted surprise. When Damon released her arm, she jumped backwards instantly. "Elena? Is that really you?"

Elena flushed a little in embarrassment, then seemed to steel herself. "Where is Katherine? You will tell me where she is, or you shall perish by my hand!" Elena shook with anger. "Give me Katherine, now!"

Damon stared at her. "Doesn't Katherine hate you? And, you know, attempt to murder you on a weekly basis?" Damon paused, pondering. "I guess I shouldn't make assumptions, though, because you know, things could be different here…"

Elena growled at him, ripping a sword from a sheath on her left hip. She waved it at him threateningly. "Did you not hear me, fiend? Give me Katherine or you shall not make it through the night!"

"Why are you speaking like that, anyway?" Realization struck Damon. "Wait, what year is it?" Elena snorted in response, and it suddenly occurred to Damon how boyish Elena looked. Really. She looked shockingly… Not sexy. Like some kind of stable boy who had long hair. Or perhaps a very modest librarian who laced her chest down with bandages every morning.

Very not sexy.

Elena wasn't that sexy normally, with her no nonsense clothing style, but she was usually cute. Or, at the very least, it was obvious what her gender was.

"How much of a dolt are you?" Elena snarled, her hand tightening on her sword. "You know the year, beast! Give me Katherine! Now!"

Damon blinked. "Elena, I hate to break it to you, but I have no idea where Katherine is. Sorry. Why are you looking for her? More, why do you think I kidnapped her?"

Elena froze. She glared around at the rocky landscape surrounding them, then whispered to Damon, softly. "Do you know what hides in the darkness of the night?"

"Uh… Vampires? Rapists? Murderers?"

Elena sighed to herself, and muttered, "Good enough." She grabbed Damon's hand, racing down the hill towards the woods below. Without looking at him, Elena murmured, "Be prepared, brother. There are enemies even among the trees."

Damon said nothing and allowed her to continue dragging him through the forest.

An hour later, once Elena was finished 'briefing' him on the plan, Damon was pretty sure that it was the worst mistake of his life.

First thing that Damon learned about this Elena was her rather different personality than the normal one.

Sure, with all the Elena persona's that he'd met in his time, you'd figure they would all differ. But most of the Elena's he'd met were stuck on their default mode; aka, Bambi mode. Nearly all of them had this whole 'adorable-yet-still-slightly-defiant' thing going for them. They never really made any moves against anyone, sacrificed themselves every now and then, never caused anyone to question their sexuality, had little to no power but acted like they were better than you in every way imaginable, etcetera. Even the few who weren't with the majority of the Elena population seemed to just be the ones who switched personalities with Katherine. Or Rebekah. Or anyone else who was a complete bitch.

This Elena must've switched with Stefan. Or maybe she was an entire new persona. Either way, the Bambi eyes were clearly turned off.

"Do you understand, brother? If we follow the plan, Katherine will be saved." God, were her eyes glowing? Damon scooted away from Elena a little, hoping that it wasn't too noticeable.

Damon stared around the bland cabin they were taking residence in, then turned back to Elena. "And, just to clarify, why is saving Katherine so important?"

Elena bristled, her fists clenching on the wooden table. She slowly relaxed her hands, pointing across the map to different key points in her plan. "First, Damon, all lives are important and worthy of a savior. Remember that, or I may begin to suspect you to be against me." Elena said seriously.

Damon rolled his eyes.

Either oblivious to his behavior or ignoring it, Elena continued. "Second, Damon! Second, Katherine is the doppelganger. She is human, and her blood is sacred." Here, Elena sighed dramatically in distress. "I am of the damned; a vampire. My blood is defiled and will forever remain so, even in death."

Damon stared at her.

Elena stared back.

Eventually, Damon drawled out to Elena sarcastically. "And this rescue mission has absolutely nothing to do with your obvious warm fuzzy feelings toward her?"

Elena flushed a little, turning her face away from him. "The doppelganger must be protected. In her current position she is not safe. We must protect her."

"What's up with your accent, anyway? It sounds almost… Bulgarian, or something."

Elena raised one delicate eyebrow, but her rather unappealing clothes ruined the image. "That would make sense, than, because we are in Bulgaria. I am Elena. You are?"

"Damon Salvatore. What's your last name, Elena?"

Elena shrugged. "I have none. My family line links all the way back to the first century or so, but my ancestor was a lowly handmaiden who carried no title. I suppose, though, that if I married I would take that last name."

"How long have you been alive, Elena? Did you ever meet anyone named Klaus? Or Kol?"

Elena face visibly closed itself off, her eyes becoming almost impeccably cold. "I wasn't married, you know, but I became pregnant. Back when I was still human. A monster who called himself Kol stole my baby from me."

"Why are you…?"

"I do not wish to rescue Katherine for the reasons I have told you about. I wish to save her from the monsters, the oldest vampires that I know of, because she is family." Elena's eyes lost the fierce determination, and she gazed down at her feet. "My only family left… And she is being held captive by one who calls himself Klaus."

"Alright, I can accept that." Damon said, shrugging a little. "But why did you trust me so quickly?"

Elena's eyes locked on him, like she was looking straight into his soul. She stared at him for a least a couple of minutes, and Damon shifted uncomfortably. Finally, she said, "I'm a good judge of character."

And she left it at that.

Damon stood up, grabbing her hand and pulling her to the door. "Well, let's go save a doppelganger from some original vampires." The way he said it made it seem as though no, this wasn't a suicidal mission.

Elena smiled up at him a little, her eyes lightening. "Correct."

Then the door was opened, Elena was rushing away at speeds only a vampire could reach, and Damon couldn't help the tiny tinge of guilt, because he really wasn't risking anything anyway.

And that was probably the beginning of the end of Damon's alternate universe runaway act.

It only made sense that things would end once he started to enjoy them. What else?


End file.
